The Pope and the War

This series explores how Pope Francis as the head of the Catholic Church and the Vatican deals with the Russia-Ukraine war.

Many observers call the Pope’s approach ambiguous.

On the one hand, the Catholic Church has provided humanitarian support to Ukrainians affected by the war from its very beginning in 2014. For example, from 2016 to 2018 the Catholic Church raised almost €16 million through the “Pope for Ukraine” initiative and funded several programs for internally displaced people and those living in the combat zone. Such programs provided mobile health clinics, food vouchers, and psychological help for adults and minors; and repaired and insulated houses damaged by the war. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Pope Francis has made several public speeches and gestures in support of Ukrainian victims of the war and has tried to advance humanitarian efforts—including attempts to facilitate the return to Ukraine of Ukrainian children deported by Russia—and to highlight the moral catastrophe of the Bucha massacre and similar crimes.

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The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Pope Francis, and Russia’s War against Ukraine

Photo by Barbara Mair

Thomas Mark Németh is Professor of Theology of the Eastern Churches at the Catholic Faculty of the University of Vienna and Priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

In this article I focus on the Pope’s attitude toward the Russian-Ukrainian war in the context of the Vatican’s relations with Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). [1] Standing in full communion with the Roman Pontiff and belonging to the Catholic Church, the UGCC is also a sui iuris Church with a specific autonomy, having its own first hierarch and a Synod of Bishops and sharing the Byzantine Rite with the Orthodox Church.

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Hybrid Neutrality as the Deadlock: The Pope’s Approach to the Russia-Ukraine War

Regina Elsner is an appointed professor of Eastern Churches and Ecumenical Theology at the Catholic-Theological Faculty at the University of Münster.

After one and a half years, the diplomatic efforts in Russia’s war against Ukraine have caused major global disillusionments—no means, strategy, or peace plan has yet brought a truly viable end to the war closer or opened options for a just peace in the region. This includes the Vatican’s multiple diplomatic initiatives. In its dual role as an actor in the community of states and as the center of one of the world’s largest religious communities, the Vatican has ways of maintaining a conversation with warring parties where many other actors can no longer gain access. This position has raised the hope that the Vatican, particularly the Pope, can play a mediating role in Russia’s war.

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